1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive air cleaner system, and more particularly to an automotive air cleaner system which can improve the quality of air through a combination of a catalytic filter and a discharge type cleaner unit such as a negative ion generator or a plasma cluster generator and which can improve in advance the quality of air inside the passenger compartment of an automobile before an occupant enters the automobile by a sub-battery and a switch for driving the discharge type cleaner unit and a blower fan provided separately from a main battery and an ignition key.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been automotive air cleaning systems in which an air cleaner is provided in the interior of an air conditioner in order to clean air inside the passenger compartment of an automobile. In this case, in order to clean air inside the passenger compartment, an occupant actuates the air cleaner at the same time of or after starting up an engine after he or she has entered the automobile.
In the conventional automotive air cleaning systems, as the air cleaner is interlocked with the ignition key, the air cleaner can be actuated only at the same time, as or after starting up, the engine after the occupant has entered the vehicle. Consequently, there has existed a problem that the occupant is forced to remain in an undesirable environment for some time until the air inside the passenger compartment is cleaned after he or she has entered the vehicle.
The present invention was made in view of the problem inherent in the related art, and an object thereof is to realize an automotive air cleaning system which can clean in advance air inside the passenger compartment before the occupant enters the vehicle. In addition, another object of the present invention is to realize an automotive air cleaning system which can further improve the quality of the air through another function of the air cleaner unit which is independent of a catalytic filter thereof.
With a view to attaining the objects, according to the invention, there is provided an automotive air cleaning system comprising an air cleaner provided on a vehicle and a device which can keep the air cleaner in operation even while the vehicle is parked so as to improve the quality of air inside a passenger compartment of the vehicle while the vehicle is parked. In addition, according to the invention, there is provided an automobile air cleaning system, wherein a sub-battery is provided separately from a main battery of the vehicle, whereby the air cleaner is operated by the sub-battery. Furthermore, according to the invention, there is provided an automotive air cleaning system, wherein the quality of part of the air is improved while the vehicle is parked and the quality of the remaining part of the air is improved after an occupant enters the vehicle. Moreover, according to the invention, there is provided an automotive air cleaning system, wherein the improvement of the quality of the part of the air means removing dust from the air and deodorizing the passenger compartment, and the improvement of the quality of the remaining part of the air means further improvement in quality of the air. In addition, according to the invention, there is provided an automotive air cleaning system, wherein the improvement of the part of the air continues to be carried out until the voltage of the sub-battery lowers to below a predetermined voltage.
By adopting the aforesaid constructions it is possible to realize the automotive air cleaning system which can improve in advance the quality of part of air within the passenger compartment before the occupant enters the vehicle and which can improve the quality of the remaining part of the air after the occupant has entered the vehicle.
The present invention may be more fully understood from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as set forth below, together with the accompanying drawings.